This is the best ever mushroom soup! Ready in about 30 minutes, this healthy recipe will soon become your go-to favorite soup! This creamy mushroom soup is easy to make, low carb, dairy free, vegan, paleo, Whole30 and keto friendly.
Why This Recipe Works
- The simplicity of the ingredients makes the mushrooms the star of this soup
- Ready in under 30 minutes, this soup is better than store bought and will really be the best mushroom soup you have ever had!
- This soup is thick and creamy without the use of heavy cream or milk making is dairy free and low fat!
- Vegan, dairy free, gluten free and Whole30 friendly, this mushroom soup is great for entertaining or weeknight meals!
How To Make Healthy Mushroom Soup
- Step 1: Chop the onions and slice the mushrooms. Sauté the onions until slightly softened. Add the mushrooms and allow the mushrooms to cook for 5-6 minutes.
- Step 2: Add the fresh thyme, salt, garlic powder, bay leaves and coconut aminos to the mushroom and onion mixture.
- Step 3: Mix the arrowroot powder into the vegetable broth and stir well until completely combined. Pour the arrowroot powder and vegetable broth slurry and the dairy free milk into the mushroom and onion mixture and allow it to come to a simmer for 15 minutes to thicken.
- Step 4: After 15 minutes, serve hot or you can blend up some of the soup with an immersion blender to thicken the soup a little more.
What mushrooms are best for soup?
This recipe uses a mixture of cremini mushrooms (baby portabella mushrooms) and white button mushrooms. The cremini mushrooms add a depth of flavor and umami that you don’t get with just white button mushrooms. You could also use shitake mushrooms, but those are usually more expensive so I stick to cremini and white button to save money.
To save time, you can buy the mushrooms pre-sliced but I prefer to buy them whole and slice them myself since the pre-cut mushrooms can go bad faster.
Tips for working with mushrooms:
To prepare the mushrooms, use a dry paper towel to brush off any soil/dirt you see. Don’t run mushrooms under water, as they are very porous and will absorb the water, and never really develop their flavor fully.
Wait to salt the mushrooms until after they have cooked down for some time. Adding salt too early can cause the mushrooms to not fully release all their water.
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What herbs are best in mushroom soup?
Fresh thyme and mushrooms are a match made in heaven!
- To remove the little thyme leaves from the stalk, simply hold the stalk at the very top (so the leaves are pointing up) and run your fingers down the stalk pulling the leaves down with your fingers. The stalks can be very fibrous and tough, so be sure to remove as much of them as you can.
- Don’t have fresh thyme? You can always use dried thyme! Just remember that the dried herbs are much stronger, so you will want to use about 1 teaspoon of dried thyme.
- To get the most flavor out of dried thyme, it’s best to rub the leaves between your fingers to crush them up before adding them to the soup to help release some of their natural oils!
Garlic powder is used in this recipe because fresh garlic can get a little overwhelming and burns easily. This way you get the garlic flavor without worrying about it burning!
Bay leaves are one of the ways to take a soup to the next level, especially soups that don’t have much cooking time. Add one or two bay leaves and let them do their magic! Just don’t forget to remove them before serving the soup (or pureeing it).
How to thicken without heavy cream?
This recipe for the best ever mushroom soup uses arrowroot (or tapioca flour) to thicken the soup. It’s important that you mix in the arrowroot powder into a cold or room temperature liquid before adding it to the heat. This is to ensure the mixture is smooth since the heat will cause any clumps to clump together more.
If you wanted a creamier soup, you could blend half of the soup with an immersion blender or high speed blender to help thicken it more! You could also add pureed white beans or mashed potatoes to the soup to help thicken it without cream.
How to make this mushroom soup creamier?
The vegan mushroom soup can also be made creamier with the addition of white beans to make the best ever vegan white bean mushroom soup, or boiled potatoes for a vegan and paleo recipe! Both of these are an awesome way to add creaminess to this vegan mushroom soup.
You could also add 1-2 tablespoons of vegan (or regular) cream cheese. The Kite Hill Chive Cream Cheese would be delicious stirred into this soup!
How to make cream of mushroom soup
To make this cream of mushroom soup, reduce the vegetable broth by half and blend the soup in the blender in batches or using an immersion blender.
Once blended, continue to add more non-dairy milk as needed until it reaches your desired thickness. If you add too much liquid, you can always add in more arrowroot powder (just remember to dissolve it in water before adding it in so it doesn’t clump).
Substitutions and FAQ’s
What milk can be used?
Any dairy free milk you enjoy would be great! This includes but is not limited to:
Can this soup be made ahead of time?
This soup is almost better the next day, so if you are having company, this would be a great make ahead meal. Just give the soup a few minutes to come back up to temperature over medium low heat before serving.
Note: This recipe only makes 2 servings, so if you are making it for company, you will want to double the recipe.
Storage:
Fridge: This recipe will last 4-5 days in the fridge once prepared. Be sure to store it in a covered glass container (I use mason jars for easy storage). Reheat in the microwave or on the stove!
Freezer: This recipe can be frozen. However, if you choose to freeze this recipe, the arrowroot powder can get a little gritty after freezing but this doesn’t always happen, so I prefer to make it fresh!
Looking for more soup recipes?
- Crockpot Low carb vegetable soup
- Minestrone Soup (vegan)
- Frozen Vegetable Soup
- Slow Cooker Cauliflower Soup
Best Ever Mushroom Soup
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 1 large white onion – diced
- 1 package white button mushrooms – 10 oz sliced
- 1 package baby portobello mushrooms – 10 oz sliced
- 10 stalks fresh thyme – leaves removed
- 1 cup organic vegetable broth
- 1 tbs. tapioca flour – or arrowroot or cornstarch
- 1 cup dairy free milk – unsweetened
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 1/2 tbs. coconut aminos – liquid aminos as an alternative
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- freshly ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder – optional
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, over medium heat, add the diced onions. Allow to sweat while slicing the mushrooms. About 5-7 minutes.
- Move onions to the sides of the saucepan and add mushrooms, allow to cook 5 minutes uncovered.
- Stir the onions and mushrooms together. Add fresh thyme and allow to continue to cook, at least 10 minutes.
- You will notice a substantial amount of water has come out of the mushrooms, and they are reduced in volume by half.
- Add the bay leaf, the salt and the liquid aminos to the mushrooms.
- Stir the 1 tbs. of tapioca starch into the organic broth. Add to mushrooms and stir. Add almond milk.
- Allow to cook for at least 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and add freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Notes
Nutrition Information
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Update Notes: This recipe was originally posted in February of 2015, but was published again in May 2019 to include step by step directions, recipe notes and new photos.
Cathleen
My soup tasted fine, but it was more gray in color than brown which was a turnoff. I used veg broth with cornmeal, almond milk, baby portabella and white button mushrooms. Any ideas on how to make it more visually appealing or what I did wrong?
Samantha Rowland
Hey there Cathleen! It’s likely due to the broth you are using. Often vegetable stock will have a more deep brown color (in comparison to broth), which can help make the sauce look more brown. Also I cannot comment on how cornmeal will change the color of the soup at all (although that is likely not the issue).
MNFran
I’ve never used aminos before. Can I skip it? What do aminos do to the recipe? We’re not on any special diet, so we don’t count carbs, we’re not vegan, not on paleo…nothing of the sort. We love mushrooms, however, and this recipe sounds heavenly. Thank you!
Samantha Rowland
Great question – you could use soy sauce instead if you don’t have liquid aminos or coconut aminos.
Glenna
Outstanding. Used bone broth and almond milk. Rich and creamy. 5 stars for sure!
Lorraine Peterson
Made this today with what was on hand
Home made chicken stock
Bag of marked down white mushrooms
And 1/2 can of great northern beans
I skipped the added salt because I felt the liquid aminos was salty enough
I did blend part of it
And I saved the recipe to make again!
Elise
Delish and so easy to make. Very tasty. I used 1 heaping TBS of dried thyme. perfect.
Lea Hayes
This was a great recipe. Easy to make and plenty of substitutions recommended. My spouse loved it and didn’t even eat the salad I made to go with it. There were alot of mushrooms. This is a hearty, tasty soup!
Beth
Has anyone used heavy cream in this rather than a non dairy milk? I just wonder if it would taste as good AND would you use the same amount? Thanks.
Samantha Rowland
Hey Beth – I’m guessing the soup would end up being extremely rich with the same measurement of heavy cream. I would start with half and go from there!
Ronald Moomaw
Best ever!
Samantha Rowland
Thanks Ronald!! Glad you loved it!
Andrea
The soup came out perfect! Thanks for this :)
Jan Gurgul
Perfection. My kitchen smells heavenly. I did add in a light pour of Pinot Grigio at the end for fun. I know my family will love this!
Molly
Delicious!
DML
This truly is the best tasting mushroom soup ever! And so healthy! Thank you!
Mary
This soup is Beyond Delicious! Even if you have never made it, I urge you to double the recipe because you’ll want to go back again and again for more. Thank you for such an easy recipe that taste like it took hours of prep and cooking time. This soup is so good I will be serving it to guests once life gets back to normal after Covid-19.
A
Excellent recipe! I used light coconut milk and cornstarch. I doubled the broth and coconut milk, next time I’ll probably triple it! For a larger batch and more liquid. I also blended a little more than 1/2 of the mushrooms and it made for a very delicious soup! Added a wedge of triple cream brie and 4-5 crackers – perfection! Thank you!!!
Shannon
Delicious and easy to prepare – it turned out great! Blending half of it did make it much thicker and I also added a baked potato to the blender. Thank you for the recipe!
Nicole
WOW. Incredible. I made a few changes. Used a can of coconut milk (THE REAL DEAL – Aroy d) , soy aminos and dried thyme. Also used homemade chicken broth. Amazing.
sanda bee
Made this yesterday and it met all of my criteria: fast, easy, healthy, and delicious. The husband gave it two thumbs up.
Kathy KB
Made it for a simple dinner (soup, bread, and salad) and everyone “loved” it. As stated, they thought it was the “Best Ever Mushroom Soup”.
Kim Johnstone
Thoroughly enjoyed making and eating this dish, we will defs be cooking it again.
Camilla
Amazing!!! Much better than from a can!! Love it! 😋😋
Debby
OMG! This soup was absolutely delicious. I did add some fresh garlic and a tablespoon of full-bodied red wine at the end because I didn’t have any Sheri.
I am on weight watchers and this was such a perfect soup to make with virtually no points.
Lisa
This is absolutely delicious!!! I make this every week. I use almond milk and vegetable broth. I also add nutritional yeast which thickens it and gives a great flavor!
Dedra
Can you use whipping cream for low carb version?
Samantha Rowland
I have not tried this, the dairy free milk is already low carb so I’m not sure it would change the overall carb count much.
Christina
My dream of having a vegan mushroom soup after so many years, just came true. Best thing ever! Thank you so much!
Maggie
I was looking at the carb count in the nutritional facts and I’m a bit confused because all of the ingredients listed are pretty low in carbs but the carb count is pretty high per serving. How are the carbs calculated per serving?
Samantha Rowland
Hey Maggie, we use a database for calculating nutrition, but I recommend that you enter the recipe into whatever app you use based on the exact ingredients you use. I’m guessing this is because of the onions and the arrowroot flour.
Bren
Can you freeze this soup?
Samantha Rowland
Yes, it can. See notes in the post.